When Big Gay Horror Fan was enthralled by the toothy priests of hell, all he had was a hunchbacked, tobacco stained nun coming to his aide. But, when his character’s boyfriend was bedazzled on the ridiculously fun, gay themed horror show The Lair, handsome, solid actor David Moretti came running to the rescue, anguishing for his redemption. (So not fair!) The fun and frisky Moretti imbued The Lair with its reasonable heart, bringing an earnest sincerity to each episode. Parts in Murder.com, Finding Mr. Wright and the upcoming Scrooge and Marley have followed, allowing Moretti to show his true versatility. With humorously innate story telling grace, Moretti talks about his days on The Lair and his time spent in the low budget slasher trenches, in this exclusive Big Gay Horror Fan interview.
BGHF: So, David, who were your first performing inspirations – Bob Hope getting his flirt on with Brooke Shields on his annual Christmas specials – Little Richard preaching his exquisite madness to the masses – An eccentric tuba playing, Shakespeare quoting uncle – What?!?
DM: For drama it was Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. I mean being able to win an Oscar with less than 16 minutes of screen time is almost unfathomable. Truly amazing. As far as lighter fare, I was obsessed with Ed O’Neill in Married with Children. His comedic timing is pitch perfect every time. I think that’s where my super dry sense of humor comes from. Ironically, I wasn’t allowed to watch either Silence of The Lambs or Married With Children growing up. Perhaps that why I was initially drawn to both… hmmm.
BGHF: The forbidden is the most glorious food, my dude! Can you tell us a bit about making 2007’s Manje’ which sounds like an old school slasher film with a twist – or maybe two!??
DM: That film was interesting. I think there were 4 callbacks for my pivotal role as the dumb jock in the film LOL (compared to a single audition for The Lair). It was one of those low budget indie zombie flicks where a bunch of teens go to the woods and start getting picked off one by one. It was so low budget that our rookie makeup artist thought duct tape and human skin were a match made in heaven, and he convinced me to let him tape the rubber machete to my skin for my death scene. (I later learned there should be a cloth barrier.) Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty getting out of “costume” that night! But in the end it was definitely one of my most fun shoots ever. And I even had a sex scene with a girl. My one and only! Oh and I got my face ripped off. That made for some interesting MySpace pictures (at the time MySpace was bigger than Facebook!)
BGHF: We need to hunt those down! You got to work with David DeCoteau; one of the biggest exploitation directors of all time, on 2008’s Playing with Fire. What was that experience like?
DM: It was quick. He shoots his films anywhere between 4 and 8 days and I had such a small role I think I may have been on set for 3 hours… tops. We didn’t even get to talk aside from director-actor talk. But later we had dinner together and I learned he’s a pretty swell guy.
BGHF: Nice. Two of your co-stars from Murder.com, Alexandra Paul and David Chokachi, were former Baywatch regulars. Any wetly wonderful stories from working on that film?
DM: THAT film rocked. I got a free three week vacation to the Turks & Caicos Islands. I worked literally every other day… and David Chokachi had a similar schedule, so we spent a lot of time getting to know each other over many a Heineken at the ONE bar on the entire island of Grand Turk. Alexandra Paul is a total sweet heart and really took me under her wing acting-wise. I remember rehearsing in her hotel room because I really wanted to iron out the final scene. She was more than willing to oblige and gave me lots of great advice. I also learned on that shoot that Bart Johnson, Robyn Lively’s husband (both also stars of the film), and I shared the exact same unit in the exact same house north of Sunset Blvd at different times. He actually built the wall that turned the unit from a studio to a one bedroom – and quadrupled the price as well! Granted I lived there 10 years later… but still! Other than the actor bonding, it was a HOT shoot. We were all sweating through our wardrobe as you can see by copious amounts of boob sweat in the final edit. But we decided that gave a very “real” feel to the Florida living we were portraying. LOL.
BGHF: Breast moisture has made plenty a film! By the way, I always find it incredibly awesome that Fred Olen Ray (whom I love), best known for films with excessive (female) T and A, was one of the primary forces behind the very male obsessed The Lair. What was it like working with him?
DM: He’s such a cool guy! And yes you could tell it was his first time dealing with A&A as opposed to T&A ha-ha. Working with him was like working with your sarcastic uncle from the family Christmas party. Always in a good mood, never had a meltdown, but was the first to tell you something sucked if he didn’t like it. Of course he never said that to meeeeee… but uh… I heard him say it to others… He also kind of Godfathered me into the business as The Lair was my first major credit. So he really took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. Awesome learning experience. My hat’s tipped to him for sure.
BGHF: Vampires, werewolves, evil plants (Yes!!!) – The Lair had some amazing plotlines. Do you have a particular favorite – and what was your most interesting moment on the set for that series? (Don’t you just love those questions that give you a two-for-one?)
DM: I’d say the most vivid memory was definitely the flashback scene to the colonial era with Peter Stickles. We basically looked like George Washington and John Adams in drag. I was also compared to Prince. We had to do this scene where I was painting a portrait of Peter and he kept giving me these “come hither” eyes and I just lost it. I could not stop laughing that entire day. I’m sure production was pissed at the delays I caused, but I’m sorry, it was truly hilarious. (I think that answer covers both parts of the question LOL)
BGHF: Miracles! It truly did, my friend! You worked with the amazing Rebekah Kochan (When A Killer Calls, Freakshow, Halloween Night) on 2011’s Finding Mr. Wright. Did you two bond with stories of low budget, exploitation madness?
DM: Ha! Yes, we did in fact. She’s one of my favorite people ever and she really kept me sane on that set. I mean we were filming and sleeping ON set! I was literally in a bunk bed with a costar. We had shots of Jack Daniels at night and talked shop and joked around. We both have done quite our fair share of indy fare so we had plenty or war stories to compare. She’s also a stand of comic, so that along with the liquor really kept spirits high on that set. So much fun.
BGHF: That sounds awesome! I’ve always loved how Charles Dickens throws those ghosts around – even in a holiday tale. Can you tell us a bit about your involvement in the fun, modern re-telling of A Christmas Story – Scrooge and Marley?
DM: I play Bob Cratchit in this one. He was originally written for an older dad but I heard about the film during pre production and personally wrote the production asking to be a part of it. There was not a role available for my age range but they said if I wanted to put my interpretation of a younger Cratchit on video, they would consider it. I made a little scene with Brian Nolan, Frankie from The Lair, they loved it and the rest is history! We shot Scrooge and Marley in Chicago, which quickly became my favorite city in the states. I had so much fun exploring and shooting around town. I think we created a really special movie with an amazing cast. I mean Marla Hooch from A League of Their Own is in it (Megan Cavanagh!), Bruce Vilanch, Tim Kazurinski from SNL… amaaaaazing talent. Our hope is that this will be watched for many years to come by gays and straights alike. Look for it this Christmas!
BGHF: Will do! Lastly, any words of advice (IE: Never try on Sybil Danning’s bullet proof bra – especially when she’s looking) or future projects that you’d like to tell us about? And thanks – this has been better than trying to save a vamp enthralled boyfriend any day of the week!
DM: Hmmm this is a toughie. I guess I’d have to say never mess with Brian Nolan’s hair. He’s very particular about it and even though he plays a ghost in The Lair, his punches are anything but invisible. He beat me daily. I cried. He laughed. Truly sinister that man. I kid, but he’s one of my best friends. But his hair is very… dear to him. Let’s just leave it at that. Also, for the record, shirtless scenes require working out twice a day and not eating anything except animals and green plants for a month before the scene. I remember literally diving into a box of cookies the last day of filming. It was heavenly!
BGHF: Just like this interview! Thanks, again, my man!
Be sure to keep up to date with David at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/David-Moretti/74323814048 and www.davidmorettionline.com.
BGHF is, also, always in need of more company (whore!!) at http://www.facebook.com/#!/BigGayHorrorFan, as well!
And — until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE!!!
Big Gay Horror Fan 